Hammockeering Around

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Huascaran and Huayllay and the road to Cusco

I've been touring a couple amazing natural areas. First was Huascaran park. Some say the park contains the world's most beautiful mountains. From my own experience I'd say they are a contender. Though still well withing the tropics these mountains were snow capped, the tallest of them rose to nearly 7000 meters. Two roads crossed the range. I followed the first up and over and came back on the second. It was a 7000 foot climb to 15,343 feet, I gained the pass in a freezing fog, then descended 7000 feet to warmth and a river, biked along the river 7 miles then turned right back into the mountains to do it again. That is some serious climbing but it was so beautiful and well worth it.

The first valley had two picturesque lakes that sparkled unmistakably glacier blue. The road climbing up to the lakes followed a valley cut long ago by a much larger glacier than exists in the park today. It left behind a magnificent valley. The walls of which were as shear and tall as what I saw in Yosemite. The big difference here was that I was nearly the only tourist in the park. Only a handful of vehicles passed me, most of them vans taking passengers to villages on the far side of the mountains. I had the camp ground all to myself and I hung my hammock at the edge of the cold lake. On my second pass over the mountains I encountered a snow squall. The road cut through a tunnel at a little over 14000 feet and both sides were turning white. The tunnel was nearly mile long and unlit. It was a dark ride with many small waterfalls to duck through as I went. I descended quickly until I found sunshine and warmth. Stopping high above the valley I saw before me a road of switchbacks that dropped 2000 feet, 30 hairpin turns in all. It was amazing.

I arrived at the next park several days later. Huayllay national sanctuary. A place famous for its eccentric rock formations. Thousands of stone pillars rose up from the earth. Many of them looked precariously balanced on a thin base or were stacked and balancing on each other as if they were the play things of giants. I spent a day there watching the light play across the alien landscape. I hiked through the stone towers and took pictures as each turn brought another scene that may have no counterparts the world over.

After I left Huayllay I had about two more weeks of biking to get to Cusco. It was a pleasant road following rivers for the first few days then started crossing ridgelines. I had several climbs to do that were taking me a day or more to reach the pass. The change in climate and environment is wonderful to climb up through. One morning a few days from Cusco I packed up my gear and climbed an hour more to the pass at nearly 14000 feet. It was beautiful up there and I was happy for the downhill. I have long said that I would climb all day for a good down hill. I never expected it to be such a common thing. It was a great ride down. Big fast turns and good road surface. I wrecked though which made it considerably worse. On a short steep slope into a slight left turn I crossed a tiny stream. Maybe two feet wide and just deep enough to wet the concrete. When I hit the water my front wheel slid out. It caught traction before I went down. I had two chances to save it as I swerved my bike under me but I couldn't pull it off. I pitched over to my right and landed hard on my hip and shoulder, bouncing my helmet lightly on the asphalt and sliding to a stop in the dirt on the side of the road about 6 feet from my bike. Fortunately I fell to the inside of the road and not the cliff side. No cars were around either. Not to see me or run me over. I sat for a moment assessing the situation while my rear wheel continued to spin on my overturned bike. My shoulder hurt the most, I think I sprained it. My down coat was torn and hemmoraging feathers from the forearm and shoulder. My pants had come unbuttoned and slid down off of my hip exposing my skin for a large patch of road rash. My left thumb was bleeding and so was my right elbow but I couldn't maneuver my arm to see it. My legs felt fine so I picked up my bike and moved off the road to have a look at it. When I spun the front wheel it was catching on my brake and on further inspection I saw that the rim side wall had ruptured. A chunk of metal was sticking out catching the brake and a crack ran in a curve parallel to the edge of the rim. I tried using my pliers to pinch the metal out if the way of brake but my right arm was quickly losing its usefulness so I opted to ignore it for the moment. With nothing left to do there on the side of the road I gathered myself up and carried on down the hill, careful to only use my rear brake. The front tire was fine and I wasn't even too concerned about the integrity of my front wheel though it had taken on quite a wobble. My right hand resting on the handlebars was a bareable position for my ahoulder. I covered a few more miles into a sizable town where I splurged on a three star hotel for $10. Two days later I caught a bus to Cusco. My parents were coming to visit and I needed to get there to meet them. This happened over a week ago now and while not yet healed I'm feeling much better.

Rainbows bow upward in the southern hemisphere.

Huascaran National Park

Climbing past a glacier lake in Huascaran National Park.

Continueing to another lake in the clouds.

Coming down the other side on 2000 vertical feet of switchbacks.

Horses in Huayllay National Park.

Flowers for you.

Huayllay National Park.

Huascaran National Park.

I believe if you climb to the top of a mountain for the view then you are missing he point.

Huayllay National Park. This place was amazing.

A glacier carved valley in Huascaran National Park.

The entrance to the valley.

Fortunately I did not need to cross this bridge.

Huayllay National Park.

The start of a very long downhill.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Switchbacks

These mountains are so steep, enormous, imposing, intimidating, daunting. These mountains are not the domain of man to travel through. They belong to creatures with surer footing or with better means of travel, goats and eagles, swifts and snakes. But humans, I can attest, need to go everywhere. As a race we were born for it. The horizon always beckons. And so we have taken to these mountains. The idea of which is just silly, loopy if you will, and these roads, folding over themselves as they try to climb higher, are the physical manifestation of the absurdity of trying to move among the giants. I find the roads to be beautiful. Art on a grand scale. Conquering the impossibly steep slopes with a gentle ribbon of asphalt.

I've been climbing mountains. There is no avoiding them nor do I want to. I've been following single lane dirt roads until I am way out there. Way out there is a day when no vehicles pass me, I talk to no one because there is no one to talk to. Only the alpacas and maybe an unseen shepherd join me at the lofty heights. I crossed a pass at 14,439 feet (4734 meters). The mountains and clouds stretched away in every direction. A cool wind brought the only sound. It was beautiful up there. The way down was steep and gravely. Too steep to ride safely so I walked holding my brakes. There was a lot of that. After 6 hours and 7000 feet of descending I crossed a narrow fast flowing river then started up the other side into a series of winding switchbacks. Mountains are wonderful for wandering.

While I wasn't climbing high I have been following small packed dirt roads across mountain faces. They are cut into nearly vertical mountain sides. Most days I get a few clear views but usually I am deep in a cloud. The wall on one side of the road disappears above me into a heavenly white. A car width away the cliff drops abruptly, disappearing into eternity. The roads trace the contours of the mountains, going deep into ravines where the stream washes over the road. Small villages appear a few times a day where I stop to get a plate of warm food and bananas. There are always bananas.

This was a good place to wake up.

In the mountains now!

Flowers for you.

Purple flowers for you.

Switchbacks!

My smile is not quite this big on the way up.

Where large streams flow over the road sometimes there will be a pedestrian bridge.

Another floor for you.

Peru roads are so fun.

Even more flowers to brighten your day.

Twice on this road I was stopped waiting for rock slides to be cleared..

A giant cemetery.

I feel adventurous when a road has this much grass growing on it.

New friends! Thanks for the drink.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Dreams do come true

I'd like to talk about my hammocks for a moment. My first hammock was an original Hennessy hammock. I bought it in 2006 for a 1200 mile jaunt on the Appalachian trail. Seemingly, I was an early adopter as I met almost no one else using a hammock. I have since heard they are quite popular on the trail. My second Hennessy hammock was their extra large version. A sharable size, I bought it for a bike tour across Washington and Oregon with a girlfriend. Washington and Oregon are a hammockeer's paradise. My third Hennessy hammock I am in right now as I write this, the ultralight model. To this point it has accompanied me across 26 countries in nearly 550 days. I've slept in it over 400 nights. Worn ropes, worn zippers and ant attacks have left it functional, but haggard. Now, Hennessy Hammocks is generously sending me a new one. Inspired by my journey they are happily supporting the cause. A sponsorship if you will. That is to say, I am sponsored by a hammock company to sleep in a hammock. Dreams really do come true.

Now onto Peru. This place is great. At the border I entered into a low dry area inhabited mostly by goats. No leaf or bud existed anywhere below three and a half feet. As I continued towards the coast the landscape became drier until I was crossing a lifeless coastal plain of sand and wind and sun. The environment was harsh and grating and I could see it in the small towns I passed. One evening, just before I disappeared off the road to camp, I was stopped by police. They informed me that no hotels, no civilization really, were around and that this section of highway was unsafe. With that they poured me a cup of Inca Cola, lashed my bike to the roof of their Nissan and drove me to an intersection where I was handed off to a passing flatbed truck and finally deposited at a patrolled toll booth. After being driven across miles of serene, empty, moonlit desert I camped next to the noisy road under a floodlight. It was not my greatest night of sleep. In the morning the police planned to escorted me 20 miles into town. After a mile they became bored of my pace and so we leapfrogged each other until I arrived.

It wasn't long before I left the desert in favor of mountains. I climbed for four days along a river and then up the side of a mountain, gaining over 12000 feet before pointing downhill. I am starting to get acquainted with Peru's love of switchbacks. These mountains are steep, they have no choice but to embrace switchbacks. I think they're great. Going up is just as fun as going down.

Rolling through a small town one morning I stopped at the town square to eat my breakfast and saw a sign welcoming the president. I asked a woman sitting on a bench, "The president of what?". "Peru" was the answer that came back with a smile of pride. He was arriving that day to give a speech. It seemed like a rare opportunity that I decided not to miss. A couple hours later his helicopter passed overhead and shortly thereafter he arrived to a crowd of a couple hundred. Dressed in jeans and a white dress shirt he looked like a man of the people. When he spoke his words were powerful and filled with emotion, his gesturing large and his cadence perfect. I couldn't help but cheer. I had no idea what he said. He wasn't reading road signs aloud or asking where I was coming from or going to so his speech fell well outside of my vocabulary. Later I joined a crowd to look at his helicopter. It was pretty cool.